Aaron Eichelberger wins sportsman feature at Williams Grove

Aaron Eichelberger dominated the super sportsman feature at Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday night for his first of the season.

The second generation driver from Dillsburg started third and took the lead on lap five. He was never challenged over the 20-lap distance. He earned $1,350.

“This is a really great feeling because we’ve been struggling with this new car all year,” Eichelberger said. “It’s been fast all year, but we couldn’t catch a break for a while. We were getting into racing incidents on the track or having motor problems. Every week we’ve been working at it and getting better and better. My guys have been working real hard.”

Dave Berkheimer of Mechanicsburg started on the pole and led the first lap over Lanny Hake and Eichelberger.

Stan Wanner’s slowing car brought out the caution flag with one lap completed. The red was then displayed as fluid was on the speedway from Wanner’s blown engine requiring some clean-up.

Eichelberger, 28, took second from Hake on lap three and set his sights on Berkheimer. They were side-by-side down the backstretch and Eichelberger would secure the lead in turn three.

As he began to pull away, Rick Barr was driving into the runner-up spot. Aaron’s dad, Rich, was moving up from 14th starting spot and was into the top five by lap 12.

Eichelberger’s large lead was erased when the caution flag flew on lap 17 when John Garman spun in turn one. R. Eichelberger was into third and Frankie Herr was fourth.

“I didn’t realize I was out that far,” Eichelberger said of his 4.1 second lead. “I figured I had a good lead. All those guys behind me are fast on any given night. I really didn’t want to see that yellow.”

It turned out the yellow didn’t matter as Eichelberger extended his lead over the final three laps. Barr, of Camp Hill, finished second. Herr would get by R. Eichelberger to finish third and Berkheimer completed the top five.

Dover’s Gene Knaub passed John Ebersole going into turn three on lap three and would go on to win the 20-lap feature for the 358 late models.

Bobby Beard charged to second at the end, but couldn’t challenge Knaub for the win on a late-race restart. Ebersole, Roy Miller and point leader Craig Wagaman, who started 17th completed the top five.

Kevin Thomas of St. Thomas started 10th and took the lead from Ronnie Buck on lap eight and went on to win the 15-lap feature for the 4-cylinder stock cars. It was his third win of the season. John Stoll Jr. came from 12th to finish third. Bryan Neff and Mike Buckley completed the top five.

Lance Dewease of Fayetteville took the lead from Alan Krimes on a late-race restart and went on to win the Weldon Sterner Memorial. Daryn Pittman, Krimes, Brent Marks and Adam Wilt completed the top five.

PORT ROYAL

Rick Lafferty of Pennington, N.J., won the 25-lap sprint car feature for his third win of the season. Joey Hershey, Mike Wagner, Cliff Brian and Mike Erdley completed the top five.

SELINSGROVE

Jeff Rine of Danville won the 30-lap late model championship, which was postponed by rain last week. Rine earned $1,500 for his seventh win of the season. Donnie Schick, Steve Campbell, Kyle Rhoads and Dave Zona completed the top five.

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